Just Friends
by Lorithemolehog123
Summary: Louis meets a new friend, Lori, but his feelings are in question. After Peaches turned him down he doesn't want to get hurt again. what will the relationship be? Will Louis figure out his feelings? What is up with Lori's weird parents? What happened to Lori's brother? Why am I asking you all these questions? Read and figure them out! P.S. I rated it T just in case.
1. An unfarmilliar face

It was a sunny day in the village and Louis was sent to go foraging for his family back in the burrow.

He emerged from the entrance awake and ready to take on the day. He squinted and rubbed his eyes against the bright sun.

_I guess I'll start with grubs._ He thought to himself, and he knew the perfect place to get some. There was a log near The Falls that always was chock full of them, and there were some berry bushes nearby where he could get some blueberries.

The new Falls on the island were a lot like the old Falls on the continent, but since they needed a new place for the kids to hang out, on Louis and Peaches first expedition on the island when they were 19 they found a new frozen waterfall for them to hang out near and dubbed it The Falls after the old one that was now gone with the continent.

Louis dived into the ground and burrowed away towards The Falls.

He was about half way there when BANG!

"Ow!" Louis yelped when he felt a sharp pain on his head, must have been a rock.

_I don't remember a rock being there. _He thought.

Then again, he didn't remember _a lot _of rocks being where they were. When he was little he was convinced the rocks would run in his way at the last second, however his mother quickly convinced him otherwise.

He went around the rock and continued toward The Falls. Then, not ten seconds later, he hit something else that was hard, but this time it wasn't a rock.

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

Wait a moment, that second voice wasn't his. He popped out of the ground to see what was up when he found another pair of eyes peering right back at him.

It was another Molehog! It wasn't just another molehog; it was a _girl_ Molehog he didn't know!

Louis squeaked in surprise and then instinctively abandoned his hole and dove into the ground making another, trying to get away, though he hear her following him down his tunnel. He pushed on faster until his arms burned and his legs ached.

In a desperate attempt to get away, he shot out of the ground, intending to make another hole to slow her down. As soon as he emerged he felt a hand around his ankle. He landed on his stomach and was pulled backward. Louis clawed at the ground in a frantic attempt to get away, but it was in vain.

She pulled him backward and flipped him onto his back, put her forearm up to the throat and looked him in the eye angrily with her ears pulled back.

She was beautiful. Her eyes were gold with green at the rim. Her brown hair fell lightly over her eyes and ears, her nose was a bit smaller than his, and she had just about the same markings than him. She was smaller than him too but only by an inch or two.

"Why are you near our burrow?" She asked him sternly.

"Uh," Louis paused; he was so distracted he had barely heard the question.

"I-I didn't know your burrow was around here, I w-was just foraging, honest." He said nervously.

Wow, that was weird. He got the first sentence out with barely any stuttering or not being able to speak at all. Usually he couldn't talk at all to new people, especially girls. For some reason Louis felt oddly comfortable around her, like they had meet before and were friends already.

"Oh," Her look softened." Well do you live around here?"She asked him

Louis saw his chance and shoved her off, scrambling to his feet.

"It depends," Louis said, puffing out his chest and trying to sound tuff. "does _your_ family live around here?" at the moment Louis asked the question he noticed how dumb it had been.

The girl crossed her arms, stuck out her hip, and smiled at him, amused.

"Ok…I'm Lori, and you are?" Lori gestured to Louis.

"Um, I'm Louis." He told her, trying to sound confident.

"Nice to meet you Louis." She said as she stuck out her hand, expecting a hand shake.

Louis inspected her hand then shoke it warily.

"So, Wiener, where do you live?" Lori asked.

"How do you know my nickname?" Louis covered his mouth as he felt his face get hot.

He looked down and heard Lori giggle.

_Why did I say that? _ Louis asked himself.

He tried to hide his embarrassment and when he looked up Lori was also covering her mouth, but not out of embarrassment or surprise, it was because she was laughing.

"Down the path around the corner." Louis said gesturing behind himself, disappointed he made himself sound so stupid.

Now in control of her laughter, Lori said "We live at the end of that really, really long path near The Falls."

"Why have I never seen you around before?" Louis asked.

"We just moved in a month ago," Lori explained. "and my parents are _really_ strict. I'm not even allowed to go this far from the burrow, I guess I was just feeling adventurous."

"And another Question," Louis said "Why did you chase me?"

"Yeah, sorry about that. In the last place we lived in, our neighbors were," She paused to think of the right word "strange. They tended to steal from our pantry when we weren't home, so my parents told me to chase them away. I have no Idea why they did it though."Lori stared off into space so to break the silence Louis tried to make small talk.

"So, do you have any siblings?"

Lori looked at him and her eyes filled with sadness.

"I used to have a brother, but when we were little…" her voice faded away.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I brought it up." Louis said, regretting saying anything about it.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know." Lori said, blocking out the pain and smiling to hide it. Lori looked up at the sun and saw it was almost to the middle of the sky.

"Aww shoot. I have to go, my family will be wondering where I am, but we should hang out more, k?"She said starting to walk away.

"Ok, see you around!" Louis said, waving

Lori dived into the ground but popped back up and said "and remember, I was never here!" Then burrowed away, and Louis continued on his way to the falls.

**so, there you go. the first chapter. most of the other chapters are already typed so I just have to upload them. did you like it? It's my first fanfic so please be nice. don't worry, the writing gets better and the story picks up as it moves along so just bear with me.**


	2. A Fierce Prank

Louis woke up in his room in the family burrow. He blinked his eyes until they were blur-free, sat up, stretched, and yawned.

It felt earlier than usual, something must have woken him up.

He walked through the tunnel to the family room, where his room, his two brother's rooms, his Mom and Dad's rooms, and the pantry were connected.

There he saw Lori leaning against the wall.

"Hey Lori." Louis said nonchalantly.

_Wait a minute_. Louis thought, and looked at her.

"Why?"Louis asked.

"Your Mom's really nice and told me I could wait for you to wake up here." She said standing in front of him.

"What time is it?" Louis asked, yawning.

"It's really early, before sunrise, but only because we need it to be. I usually don't wake up until sunrise." Lori said informatively while fixing her hair.

"Come on." She said, getting up and walking over and up the tunnel to the main room. Louis followed her up and found his mom waiting for them.

Louis' Mom had blue eyes and bangs with long hair in the back that was strait and neat with hints of white and gray mixed in with the dark brown. She was still a bit taller than Louis and Lori, and had darker markings.

After Lori left the burrow she stopped Louis

"You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!" Louis' Mom said excitedly

Louis dropped his arms to his sides and sighed.

"Mom, she's not my girlfriend."Louis said; quiet enough as to make sure Lori didn't hear him.

"Oh, well where are you going?" She asked

"I have no idea, Lori didn't tell me."Louis told her.

"Ok well have fun, but not too much fun!" She said as he was leaving.

When he emerged Lori helped him to his feet.

What took you so long?" She asked him

"Don't worry about it." Louis said looking back at the burrow entrance. There was no way he was telling her what his mom said.

"What are we doing?"Louis asked.

"We are going to play a prank on a saber." Lori said excitedly.

"What? We're gonna be killed!"Louis said in surprise. No one played a prank on a saber; they did _not_ take pranks well.

"I know, but that's what makes it fun."She said. Louis stared at her, and not in the good way.

"I'm kidding! We _probably _won't die." Lori said.

"I guess we won't know 'til we try." Louis said hesitantly.

"That's the spirit."She said with her hand on his shoulder "Let's go"

VVV

The next thing he knew Louis was standing with Lori behind a bush near Diego, who was stalking a gazelle.

"So," Lori whispered "What's the plan?" Lori asked

"I thought you knew!" Louis whispered.

"Well I have a rough idea, but as long as we get right in his face we'll scare him." She said

"We could…ok, we each quickly go around him on each side, then pop up in his face and scare him. Is that good?" He asked.

"That's perfect, even better than my plan." Lori said.

"What was your plan?" Louis asked.

"Improvise and don't get eaten. You go on his right, and Louis," She said suddenly serious. "don't run into one of us."

"I would not run into you!" Louis whispered loudly.

Lori looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"I'll try not to run into you." Louis said, embarrassed and defeated.

"Ok, ok, get ready, he's about to pounce."Lori said

Lori peeked out of the bush again to check on Diego. Obviously he hadn't pounced yet or they would have noticed, let alone heard it.

They both got on all-fours and peered around the side on the bush.

Diego lowered closer to the ground.

"Now!" Lori whispered.

They both tunneled around Diego and popped up in front of him.

"Boo!"They yelled in unison.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Diego yelled jumping up in the air and landing a foot away on his toes.

Louis and Lori started to laugh when all of a sudden there was a flash of white and Lori was knocked down. When Louis turned around he saw Shira was baring her teeth and had her ears held back holding Lori down by her arms.

"Gee, I wonder what molehog tastes like." Shira growled at Lori.

"Louis?" Lori said in terror.

"Don't eat her!" Louis said as he ran over, standing in front of them.

Shiras earrings jingled together when she looked up at him. Her expression softened when she saw Louis.

"Oh, hey Weiner." Shira said as she released Lori.

"Wait, that's really your nickname?" Lori asked, now happy she had been released. Louis ignored the question.

"This is Diego and Shira." He told Lori."They are in my herd."

"A herd with sabers?" Lori questioned.

"Yeah, three mammoths, four possums, a sloth, two sabers, and a molehog." Louis said.

"Oh." Lori said in surprise at the odd family.

"Shira, you're not supposed to be pouncing like on stuff like that." Diego warned her.

"Oh, pish posh, it's only been three weeks." Shira said to Diego, who looked at her worriedly.

_What was that supposed to mean?_ Lori thought.

"What are we gonna eat now?" Diego asked.

"We can finish off that deer from yesterday." Shira said calmly.

"Eww!" Louis and Lori said in unison.

"Well you guys eat worms!" Shira said to them. She stuck out her toung for emphasis.

Lori stuck out her toung when Shira wasn't looking and Louis laughed.

"So Louis, who's your girlfriend?" Diego asked mockingly as Shira stretched out in a sunny spot nearby. That's when Lori saw Shiras belly. She was definantly…bigger than other sabers she'd seen. Then it dawned on her, Shira must be pregnant. Lori was _not _about to ask, so she just assumed. Louis voice snapped her back into the conversation

"She's not my girlfriend." Louis said, annoyed.

"I'm Lori." Lori said.

"It's nice to meet you Lori. Where do you live?" Diego asked.

"I live near The Falls." Lori answered." We moved in a month ago."

"And, how did you guys meet?" Diego asked.

"We ran into each other, literally." Lori responded. They both eyed Louis.

"That sounds like Louis." Diego said.

"Well I think I've been made fun of enough today," Louis said, taking Loris hand and leading her away. "Come on Lori, let's go. Bye!" Louis said quickly.

"Bye Diego, bye Shira" Lori yelled behind her as they walked down the path.

Louis hung his head in disappointment, while Lori was happy to have made more friends. She looked over at Louis and saw the sadness on his face.

"Hey, are you ok?" She asked, now worried. Louis sighed.

"No. Everyone always makes fun of me, and I'm sick of it. They always call me Weiner and now they have more material, and I can't stop them."

"Why not?" Lori asked, confused.

"Because I'm…because I'm…" His voice trailed away.

"Oh forget it!" Louis said. He kicked a rock in frustration..

"No, come on, what is it?" Lori asked gently "Just tell me." She stopped walking and when he turned around he could see the worry on her face.

"I'm…"Louis mumbled something inaudible.

"What?" Lori asked

"I'm too…" Then he muttered.

"Louis!"

"I'm too shy!" Louis yelled at her.

Then silence took over the conversation, and Louis spoke up to break it.

"And Peaches, one of those mammoths I told you about, is my best friend and never says anything. She's sort of," Louis paused to think of the right word, "Blind, in a sense."Louis said after he was happy with his word choice.

"She never really payed attention to my feelings. No one does…"Louis' voice trailed off and he looked at the ground and scuffed his foot.

That last part broke Loris heart. This kid needed someone to talk to, and if she has to be that person, so be it.

"Louis," Louis looked up at her with the saddest expression she'd ever seen on a molehog.

Ears down, eyes big and watery, a bit of a frown on his face, she couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"I'll always be here for you, no matter what." Lori said. She approached the sad little guy, and wrapped her arms around him. Just in time to feel a warm tear in her shoulder.

**I bet you all just went "Awwww!". yes, I did say 4 possums. I made up more characters than you thought. but other than Lori, Finn, and Brian there is no one else...for now.**


	3. Most the herd

The day after Louis emotional moment, the two were back at Louis burrow in his room.

"I know who you should meet next."Louis said as they climbed out of the burrow.

"Follow me." He said diving into the ground and tunneling away at a fast pace. Lori followed him for a long time until they heard voices up above them.

Louis popped his head out of the ground and climbed out of the hole, then helping Lori out and onto her feet.

A few feet in front of them there were two mammoths, one young female and an older male, most likely her father, and 4 possums, two were relaxing on a rock, one asleep his head and arms hanging over the edge and the other relaxing with one leg bent and was leaning back on his hands looking around. They both looked identical accept for eye color, one had blue eyes and the other had brown. They were most likely brothers, maybe even twins.

The other two were standing in front of a stump. One with stick glasses writing on a piece of bark with a burnt stick, and the other had longer hair than most other possums Lori had seen going over his right eye and was looking over the others shoulder.

Louis walked her over to the mammoths. They were talking, the older one looked aggravated.

"Dad," the younger mammoth said, "the beaver was practically blind, how can you expect him to know you leg wasn't a tree?"

Lori chuckled at the strange sentence.

"Guys?" Louis said trying to get their attention.

"Hey Louis-" The younger a mammoth began but stopped herself mid-sentence when she saw Lori. Her easy perked up and her green eyes brightened.

The older mammoth looked surprised at the little molehogs new friend.

"And friend. Who's this?" the young mammoth asked.

"Peaches, Manny, This is Lori." Louis introduced them. Lori waved.

"Lori, this is Manny," Louis said gesturing to the older male mammoth. Manny waved subtly with his trunk.

"and this is Peaches." Louis said gesturing to the younger female mammoth. Peaches waved enthusiastically with her trunk.

"Nice to meet you Lori." Manny said.

"You look like a nice person." Peaches said happily. "Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too." Lori said giggling.

Louis led Lori over to the rock and stump where the possums were stationed.

"Guys?"

The possums looked up, accept for the sleeping one

"This is Lori, Lori this is Brian," Louis gestured to the one with the stick glasses.

"Hello." Brian said in greeting to Lori.

"Finn," Louis continued and gestured to the one with the long hair.

Immediately Finn took a step toward Brian and almost hid behind him, but Brian stepped out of the way and pushed him forward toward Lori.

"Finn, you know that you have to make more friends besides us, Louis, and Peaches." Brian said.

"But I don't want to." Finn whispered to Brian.

"Tough love."Brian said, nudging him closer to Lori.

Finn was shaking with fear in his blue eyes. He squeaked a little bit and covered his mouth.

After that Lori decided to be the first one to say something.

"Hi." Lori said gently.

"Hi…" Finn said in almost a whisper. Then, still shaking, slowly backed up and hid behind Brian, peeking over his shoulder. Brian sighed and slapped his hand on his forehead.

"_OK..._ and that's Eddie," Louis leaned closer to Lori and they turned around "Finn has a crush on him." Louis whispered extra quietly. They turned back around.

"And Crash is," Louis sighed disappointedly "asleep."

Eddie looked at Crash and smiled sinisterly, pushing him off the rock. Crash hit the ground and woke up. Luckily, he hadn't been up high enough to get hurt. Crash glared at Eddie, growling, as Eddie pointed and laughed. Crash sprung up from the ground and knocked Eddie off of the rock and they proceeded to wrestle on the ground.

"Are they always like this?" Lori asked no one in particular while everyone stared at Crash and Eddie wrestling.

"Yeah pretty much." Brian said. He went back to his work and Finn stood behind him looking over Brians shoulder.

"Done."Brian said suddenly.

He stacked up his pieces of bark and tucked them under his arm, adjusting his glasses on his nose.

"Ok," Finn said, grabbing Brians shoulders." Is there any chance, ever, that Eddie will get hurt? I'm serious, any chance at all?" Finn asked worriedly.

"Well, in about 15 minutes the wind will be going at 20 miles per hour, and if we time it right the trick will work perfectly." Brian said, studying his pieces of bark.

"And if we don't?" Finn asked wringing his hands.

"Well, Eddie could…"Brian mumbled after that.

"What?" Finn asked

"I _said_ Eddie could…"he mumbled again.

"Brian spit it out, what will happen to Eddie if we time it wrong?"

Brian sighed "If we don't time it right and the wind is off Eddie might… Break a leg." Brian finished reluctantly.

"You're not doing the stunt!"Finn yelled turning toward Crash and Eddie who paused tussling.

Brian sighed and looked down and Crash and Eddie untangled, surprisingly fast.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asked disappointedly.

"No way, this time I'm putting my foot down. If you do this and get hurt I'll never forgive myself."Finn said.

"Well then we have to find another possum with the same height and weight as Eddie besides Crash," Brian said looking at his pieces of bark "and there's only one possum like that." He said looking up over his glasses at Finn.

Finn looked around and saw that everyone was looking at him.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no. there is no way you are going to get me on that tree!"

**uh huh. yeah.I made Eddie a little nicer than he actually is by accident but I don't want him to be a complete jerk. This is like a few years after continental drift so I guess maybe he might have matured?Do you like it so far? did I mess up anywhere?**


	4. A Crazy Stunt

Finn clung to a small tree as Manny used his trunk to pull it backward and stood on it to hold it down.

Louis and Lori walked over to Brian, who was double checking his work.

"So, how does this work exactly?" Louis asked standing on his left and Lori on his right.

"Well, when Manfred lets go of the sapling, Finn and Crash will go flying up into the air with Finn landing on the side of the see-saw that is down," Brian pointed toward a log see-saw with an angled piece of wood on the side that was off the ground. "And when Crash lands on the other side Finn will go up into the air, very high I might add, while Crash stands on the angled piece of wood and when Finn lands on the other end of the see-saw, Crash will go flying east all the way over there to The Lake." Brian finished

"Wow, that's really elaborate. How did you come up with that?" Lori asked

"Crash and Eddie want to land in The Lake, I make it happen." Brian said, quite proud of himself, and walked over to everyone else to explain the trick to them.

"Don't these guys ever get hurt?" Lori asked Louis.

"One time Crash was doing a stunt and he was, again, shot from a tree and while he was over me and I sneezed and he got stuck by some quills but other than that one time no." Louis explained.

Lori flinched, feeling bad for him. Quills hurt when you get stuck with them, especially when they are moving fast. Once when Lori was little she and her brother where playing outside and she was chasing him in a game of tag and he sneezed right before she caught up to him. Lori laughed a little bit to herself. Her brother always seemed to be sick. She used to say that he must have been allergic to dirt because he sneezed so much.

_Well he's not sick anymore._ Lori regretted thinking the cruel joke at the moment it came to her. She had to push it away. It was the only way she wouldn't bust out crying. Lucky for her Brian was done explaining the trick to everyone and joined them along with Peaches and Eddie.

"Ok, we're re-…are you ok Lori?" Brian asked looking at her and everyone else did. She knew her eyes were probably watery.

"Yeah I'm fine." She said trying to hide it. "Just allergies."

"What are you allergic to?" Louis asked.

"Dirt." Lori said without thinking and her throat closed up and she covered her mouth and now she was sure she was gonna cry. She thought fast and fake sneezed to try and make it a little more believable.

"Ok, um, we're ready now, so everyone get out of the way."Brian said.

Lori quickly wiped her eyes while no one was looking and payed attention to the trick.

"Ready?"Manny asked Finn and Crash.

"Oh yeah."Crash responded.

"As I'll ever be." Finn responded quietly.

Suddenly the wind picked up and Brian waited a second for it to pick up more.

"Ten…fifteen…TWENTY! Fire!" Brian yelled to Manny who let go of the tree and Crash and Finn went flying up into the air.

"Oh no, wait, wait!" Brian said.

"What? What's wrong?" Eddie asked as the two possums were flung into the air.

"I forgot to check their positions and now Finn is going to go into The Lake." Brian said worriedly.

Crash landed on the flat side of the see-saw and Finn landed on the other side, launching Crash up into the air. Crash did a summer salt and blew a kiss to Brian who glared at him. Crash had obviously done this on purpose.

"Stand on the wood!" Everyone yelled in unison to Finn who did so.

When Crash hit the flat surface of the see-saw, Finn went flying all 150 yards into the lake where on impact the group saw a small splash.

Crash walked over to the group where he was greeted by a smack on the back of the head from Brian and Eddie.

The possum brothers ran up Peaches' tail and settled on her back, Brian following slowly.

"It worked!" He said excitedly, climbing up Peaches' tail and settling behind Crash.

"H'yah Peaches! To the lake!" Eddie yelled sitting in the front and pointing to the lake.

Peaches raised an eyebrow, reached up with her trunk, and flicked Eddie on the head. Then lowered her trunk to the ground and Louis sat on it, patting the spot next to him, gesturing for Lori to sit down. Lori walked over and cautiously sat down next to him.

Peaches lifted her trunk up to her eye level and she and Manny started on their way to the lake.

Lori had never been so high off the ground before. She looked around. She was about eight feet off the ground, she could see so much more. Lori looked at Louis who was not nearly as excited as she was, but he was used to it. It was just, normal for him.

"And you get to see like this all the time?" Lori asked Peaches excitedly. Peaches smiled.

"If you like this view, check this out."

Peaches stretched her trunk all the way up. Now Lori could see the nearly the whole lake. She might have been able to see a quarter of it at her own height.

Now the sun was setting. The sky was pink and purple with the stars crawling across it behind them. The pine trees were dark green and The Lake was shimmering blue color and was reflecting the sun.

Louis looked at Lori and smiled. Her ears were perked up and her eyes reflected the sunset. At that moment a gust of wind went by and blew her hair out of her face and she closed her eyes and smiled. Twenty feet of the ground and the best view wasn't the sunset.

Lori was looking at the sunset when Louis caught her eye. Their eyes connected. Louis was absolutely sure she could read his thoughts. They both felt themselves blushing so they looked away. Lori looked down at the possums and laughed.

"Hey, Louis, look at this." Lori said.

Louis scooted closer, extremely careful not to get too close; he didn't want to make things awkward after their little moment a couple seconds ago.

Eddie had moved to Peaches head, which didn't seem to bother her, and Brian and Crash were sitting next to each other.

"I don't see anything." Louis said. Lori smirked.

"You're giving up too quickly; just watch… here it comes." She whispered, pointing subtly to Brian and Crash.

Crash looked over at Brian, who was watching the sunset. Crash froze looking away. Then quickly wrapped his arm around Brians shoulders and held him close to himself and blushed.

Brian froze and then started to turn bright red and nearly dropped his pieces of bark and burnt stick.

Lori turned to Louis and they both laughed a little bit.

"I totally didn't see that coming." Louis said "How did you know that was gonna happen?"

"Crash kept reaching over really slowly and then pulling his arm back really fast. It was kind of funny, and Brian didn't even notice!"

They both laughed and the conversation faded.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Louis asked

"Sure, what is it?"Lori asked

"Earlier your eyes were all watery and you said you were allergic to dirt, is that true?" Louis questioned her.

Lori laughed.

"No, not really."

"So then you were crying?"

"Yeah, a little." She said hesitantly.

"About what? Did I say something? If I did I'm sorry, and I didn't mean it I guess." Louis said apologetically.

"No, no, Louis, don't apologize it wasn't something you did. I was just thinking about sad stuff." Lori said.

"What were you thinking about?"Louis asked.

"My brother…" Lori said and her eyes brimmed with tears and one dripped down toward earth.

"I'm sorry I asked." Louis said

"Are you guys ok?" Peaches spoke up.

They looked down and Lori saw a little wet spot right in between Peaches eyes and laughed. Peaches pulled her trunk down and Eddie looked at them.

"Louis, what did you do?" Eddie asked. Running down Peaches trunk and up to the couple. Eddie eyed Louis who shrank down and looked at the ground. Lori leaned her head on Louis shoulder and sniffled.

"It's ok, Louis." She said quietly and Louis smiled a little bit.

"Ok, now I'm confused. I heard laughter and then I pull you guys down and she's crying." Peaches said.

Brian and Crash appeared on top of Peaches head, both smiling and looking happy as ever. Manny walked up from behind, took one look at Louis and Lori, and went right back behind Peaches.

"It's not worth it Manny, don't ask." He mumbled to himself.

"What happened between you two?" Peaches asked.

"What happened with us is not that important, however…" Lori looked up at Brian and Crash who froze and then slowly disappeared behind Peaches topknot. Eddie turned around and looked at his brother and his 'friend' and then ran up Peaches face and back over her head after his brother.

Once he was gone Peaches pulled Louis and Lori closer to her face.

"Why? What happened?" Peaches asked.

Lori leaned in closer to Peaches who was listening intently.

"Let's just say there is probably going to be two less bachelors in the herd.

"No way!" Peaches exclaimed "My mom is gonna freak!"

"Why?"Lori asked.

"Because they're her brothers, duh!" Peaches said.

"Wait; is your mom a mammoth or a possum?" Lori asked, now really confused.

"She is a mammoth that is half possum." Louis answered. Lori stared at him and opened her mouth to ask another question but Louis interrupted her.

"You'll get it when you meet her. So Peaches is half possum too and they both hang upside down when they sleep." Louis explained

"What about Manny?"Lori asked.

"He is all mammoth, so he sleeps on the ground and everything." Peaches explained.

"Ok."Lori said just as they arrived at The Lake.

The lake was huge up close. It had pine trees surrounding its sand beach. The beach had one part that is covered in big boulders that were good for laying on a cold day because they were always warm from the sun.

They quickly started their search for Finn among the sand and rocks. It was the first time Lori had been with so much sand.

"Can't we dig around and call for him, it will be quicker." Lori suggested.

"Nope, it's not as easy as it seems. The tunnels cave in and you can get buried, and besides the danger factor you get a bunch of sand in your hair and it's a hassle to get out." Louis answered.

"Oh, I won't try it then." Lori joked.

"Guys! Over there!"Eddie yelled, pointing toward one of the boulders. Manny had been holding him up high so he could look for Finn.

They all ran over to the boulder and Eddie walked over to Finn, who was laying down drying out on the sandy boulder, and stood over him.

"How was it?" Eddie asked him.

"It was…awesome." Finn said and they all sighed in relief.

**Ah, the first moment of Lori. of coarse she said she was allergic to dirt. Did you like it? but seriously, if I mess up anywhere like in the spelling, please tell me, it is much appreciated.**


	5. Secrets

After they had retrieved Finn, everyone headed for The Oak Tree where everyone, besides Louis and Lori, slept. By now the sun had almost set and it was getting dark.

Once they arrived they found an older female mammoth waiting for them.

"Sorry we got here so late Ellie, we had to retrieve Finn from The Lake." Manny said apologetically.

"The Lake? How did he get there?" Ellie asked.

"A stunt was sabotaged." Brian said glaring at Crash who smiled.

"Are you ok sweetie?" Ellie asked Finn.

"I'm ok. It was totally awesome." Finn said.

"Totally awesome huh?"Ellie laughed. "You're starting to sound like Eddie."

"The Possums climbed down Peaches, onto Ellie and then onto their branch to sleep, Brian taking a little longer to take off his glasses.

Ellie looked around the group and spotted Lori and smiled.

"Hi!" Ellie said happily.

"Oh! Sorry." Louis apologized for forgetting to introduce them. "Uh, Lori this is Ellie, Ellie this is Lori."

"Nice to meet you Lori."Ellie said.

"Nice to meet you too." Lori said.

"Uh, Mom, can you explain the possum thing to Lori?" Peaches asked.

Ellie smiled. "Sure," she told Peaches. "It's ok, Louis didn't get it at first either." Ellie told Lori reassuringly.

"When I was really little I was lost in a storm and separated from my mom. I found a tree and a mother possum with two baby boy possums. You can guess who they are. And since I was so little I had no Idea I was a mammoth. Until I met Manny I thought I was a possum. So now I say I'm half possum because I act like one. Hanging from trees and such, so since Peaches is my daughter she is half possum." Ellie explained

Lori looked up at the possums and he mouth dropped open. Eddie and Finn were now asleep and were hanging from the branch, but Crash and Brian were cuddling upside down, not asleep yet. Ellie turned around and looked right back at Peaches, Louis, and Lori.

Ellie smiled at them. "What happened?" Ellie asked them.

"Lots of stuff." Peaches said looking at Louis and Lori. They smiled and Before Ellie could ask any questions Diego showed up.

"Hey guys," Diego said walking up with Shira by his side.

"I'm gonna go hunting. I'll be back, just stay with the herd." Diego told Shira

"Ok, bye." Shira said licking the back of his ear.

"Bye." He said to the rest of the herd and walked off into the bushes.

"I had better get going." Lori said. "My parents will get worried."

"Ok, I'll walk you home." Louis offered.

"Before you go, can I talk to you Louis?" Peaches asked.

"Uh, sure." Louis followed her away from the group, far enough that no one could hear them talk.

"So?" Peaches started.

"'So' what?" Louis asked.

"You are so smitten!" Peaches whispered loudly

"I am not!" Louis said.

Peaches raised an eyebrow.

"Oh please, I saw the way you looked at her earlier. When I was holding you guys up. You guys looked right into each others eyes and it was so cute!" Peaches said in excitement. "So admit it, you like her."

"Ug, Peaches… Ok, fine," Louis paused to make sure no one was close to them. "I like her, but don't tell anyone."

Peaches subtly pumped her trunk in excitement at being right.

"Yes! You guys are gonna have the cutest little molehogs!" She exclaimed.

Louis looked at her in surprise. "Woah, woah, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I haven't even told her I like her yet, remember? Do you think she likes me back?" Louis asked, wringing his hands.

Peaches had to think about that. She didn't want to tell him Lori liked him and then be wrong and have his heart get broken, but she also didn't want to tell him no and hurt him herself, so she told him exactly what she thought.

"To tell you the truth, I have no idea, but once I figure it out I'll tell ya." Peaches said.

"Thanks, Peaches. You're a good friend." He told her.

"Aww, Thanks." Peaches said lifting him up and giving him a hug. "Now go walk her home." Peaches said putting him down and shooing him away with her trunk.

Louis ran over to Lori.

"Ready?" Louis asked.

Lori nodded and they both walked off toward her burrow.

It felt good to feel the weight of the secret off his chest. Hopefully Peaches wouldn't tell Lori. Louis had to do it. But, maybe she didn't feel the same way. What if she told him what Peaches had? He remembered when he told her how he felt. Maybe this feeling would pass. Maybe he would just forget about it and he and Lori would just stay friends. Louis wanted to just be friends with her. He didn't want to tell her, no, he didn't want to see her reaction. He was almost afraid to tell her.

Soon they arrived at the last turn before the path to Lori's house and Lori stopped him right before it.

"Uh, Louis, I need to tell ya something." Lori said urgently.

"Sure, what is it?" Louis asked

"Um, well, my parents are kind of _strict,_ and I know this sounds crazy but my family moved around a lot so my parents don't want me to get attached to anyone so, my parents don't know about you." Lori finished.

Louis was a little caught off guard by the whole thing.

"It's just that I don't want to disappoint them." Lori said "So, I need to go the rest of the way alone."

"What if you dig over and I follow you? Then I can still sort of walk you over." Louis said.

That could actually work if he followed her down her tunnel then if her parents came outside they wouldn't see him and he could still walk her up!

"Yeah, ok, that could work, but stay right behind me." Lori instructed. She dove into the ground and burrowed toward her family burrow. Louis followed her through the tunnel she dug up to her burrow entrance.

The entrance to Lori's burrow was in between two rocks and all the rooms, Loris room, her parents room, and the pantry, were all connected to the front room instead of them having a family room.

Lori popped out of the ground in front of the entrance and scratched the dirt out of her hair just in time to hear her mother clear her throat.

Lori looked up to see her mom with her arms crossed tapping her foot.

Lori's mom was almost identical to Lori, and besides the fact that Lori's mom had green eyes and was older, they were exactly alike.

"Where have you been young lady? It's almost sundown." Her mother said angrily.

"Sorry _mom!"_ Lori said extra loud so Louis would hear her and know that he shouldn't return to the surface.

"I guess time just got away from me." Lori apologized, getting out of the hole.

"Ok, well I'm just happy you're home safe." Loris mom said.

Suddenly little footsteps faded away into the distance, it was obviously Louis. When Lori saw her mom's ears perk up to listen Lori started tapping her foot softly to disguise his footsteps. Her mother looked down and saw Lori tapping her foot and assumed that was what the noise was.

"Let's go inside and have dinner." Loris mom said and went inside the burrow.

Lori walked over to the entrance but stopped before she went inside and turned toward the direction Louis disappeared in. She felt very warm inside and made sure he wasn't looking from the end of the path. She blew a kiss toward him and waved, then disappeared into the entrance to the burrow. If only she had gotten to say goodbye.

VVV

Lori ate dinner with her parents and want down into her room. She layed down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking. And what was the first thing that popped into her mind? He tried to walk her home! That was so cute! She loved him so much. Did he like her back? That was one too many questions Louis had to answer.

Suddenly Loris mom walked into her room.

"Hi honey." Loris mom said in greeting. "Just came in to say goodnight."

"Goodnight mom. Um, you're not still mad at me are you, for being late getting home?" Lori asked

"No, of course not, I just want to know that you're safe. Where do you go every day?" She asked

"I just explore. I found out that there are other molehogs in this area, and I was just wondering, do you think it would be ok if I made some friends?" Lori asked. The question was pointless since she had already made friends but if her mom said yes maybe Louis could come over.

"You could if you wanted." Lori's mom said hesitantly. "But just remember that we might be moving. You father has seen a lot of birds lately, so, if you do make friends, be ready to say goodbye." Loris mom finished

"Really?" Lori asked in disbelief "How many birds did he see?"

"He saw three today."Her mom answered.

"Well that's not that much, right?"

"Well if they stay close to the burrow it's a lot." Lori's mom said. "We'll need a little time to figure out if we should leave or not, and you can make friends if you want but don't be surprised if we need to leave in two months."

"Ok." Lori said disappointedly.

**I know, I know, that isn't a very good reason for Lori's parents to not know she had friends. but she can't know for plot reasons. yay Ellie finally has lines!**


	6. Crazy Dreams

Louis was sitting on a rock in a pine forest. Beams of light came in through the trees and light up the snow that sparkled sunlight. Louis was strangely cold and saw a beam of sunlight two feet away. He scooted across the rock and sat in the sunlight. It was…cold. Even the sun beams were cold. They were colder than the rock.

He looked to his left and saw Lori sitting there. The sunlight shone on her brown hair and her gold and green eyes looked like they were looking right into him. Like she was watching his soul and thoughts bounce around in his brain. Their eyes meet and all of a sudden the harsh cold disappeared and the world became warm. They both started leaning toward each other, their eyes closed and…Louis sat up suddenly. He was back in his grass nest in his room.

_It was just a dream._ Louis thought.

He quietly walked up out of his room, through the family room, and out of the burrow.

_It was just a dream. It was just a dream._ Louis told himself or was it? Before Louis could think anything else he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey buddy." Louis turned around and saw Manny standing behind him.

"Hi." Louis said.

Manny sat his trunk on the ground and Louis stood on it. Manny lifted it up to his tusk and Louis sat down on it.

"Are you ok?" Manny asked

Louis sighed.

"I don't know." Louis answered. He pulled up one leg and hugged it to his chest.

"Wanna talk about it?" Manny asked.

"Do you wanna hear about it?" Louis asked in turn.

"Sure, I have time." Manny answered.

"Ok, so, there's this girl, and I know I have feelings for her but I don't know what they are. I had feelings before for-" Louis paused and looked up at Manny who was listening intently.

"Someone." Louis finished.

"Peaches, I know." Manny said.

"Really?" Louis asked in surprise.

"Louis, everyone knew. Why do you think we call you Weiner?"

"Ok, well, it's not the same. The feeling is different." Louis explained.

"Ah, it seems that you have a case of L-O-V-E my friend." Manny said.

"No way, it's just a weird crush." Louis said dismissively.

"Whatever you say, Weiner." Manny put Louis back on the ground.

"Thanks for the talk sir." Louis thanked him.

"Anytime." Manny said cheerfully and Louis disappeared back into the burrow.

VVV

Lori woke up panting with sweat dripping down her face. She needed air.

She climbed up the tunnel to the front room and exited the burrow, and immediately after her head was outside took a deep breath and let the cool night air that greeted her fill her lungs and calm her down.

She fully left the burrow. Lori had so many emotions stacked up inside her. Surprise, grief, sadness, loss, loneliness, she couldn't bare it and sunk down into sadness. She sat down next to the burrow entrance, put her head in her hands, and sobbed.

It was the dream, no, nightmare that left her like this. It happened every Monday; this nightmare would come back and haunt her, right on schedule since she was six.

She was with another little boy drawing in the dirt with sticks. She would tell him she was hungry and go inside the burrow, and get something from the pantry. And, on her way out, her mom would always be standing in her path, asking her if she left the little boy outside. She always said yes, her mom always ran up and out of the burrow, and the little boy was always gone.

Obviously this was traumatizing for Lori. The disappearance of her brother had always been a mystery. He had most likely been picked up by a bird, but it could have been many things. Lori had been inside for a couple minutes, so it could have been a choice of predators.

One more thing also happened on schedule every day, Lori blamed herself. If she had never gone inside, maybe he would still be there.

She had started walking and now saw a large shape against the lightening sky. It looked like a mammoth, so Lori tunneled over to see if she knew them.

When she popped up out of the ground she saw walking next to her Manny who was delved in his thoughts, but snapped out of it when he saw Lori and stopped walking.

"What are you doing here?" Lori asked.

"I could ask you the same question." Manny said smiling.

Lori must have looked bothered because Manny picked her up and sat her down on his tusk facing him.

"What's eating ya kid? You look down." Manny asked as he started walking again.

"I don't wanna talk about it." Lori said sadly.

"You're going to have to at some point. Maybe that's why I'm here." He said keeping his eyes on the trail.

"You're probably right." Lori said, taking a deep breath. "When I was little, I lost someone important to me because of a decision I did, or didn't, make and I can never re-do it. Every Monday I have a horrible nightmare about it." Lori explained, tears coming to her eyes.

"Who did you lose?" Manny asked.

"My brother." Lori answered, sniffling.

"Want to tell me about him?" Manny asked gently.

"He was, funny, nice, and smart, I was the crazy one and he was like the voice of reason."

"I know how you feel." Manny said, wiping away her tears with his trunk.

"I used to have a mate and calf before Peaches and Ellie. I decided to move my family to The Alps early, to get past the hunters, and maybe my family would be safe. We didn't take the regular route. Right before the climb up the mountains there was a cliff, and instead of climbing up before and walking along the edge of the cliff we stayed below it, but they were waiting for us, and I couldn't protect my family. I learned later in life that if they had never died, than I never would have meet Ellie, or had Peaches. And that," He paused, now totally spaced out. "is a gift." He ended.

Lori was stunned. That was such a dramatic past for such a mellow guy.

"Just remember that everything happens for a reason. A good friend once told me 'you gotta let go of the past' and I believed him, and look at where I am now." Manny said.

"You know, if my bother never disappeared, than I never would have met all of you." Lori said.

"You mean you never would have meet Louis?" Manny asked.

Lori blushed. "You know about that?" She asked

"Nope, just a lucky guess. You're good at hiding it, just don't hide it forever." Manny warned her.

Lori turned around, and the sun was starting to rise. Her parents would be looking for her.

"I gotta go, my parents will be wondering where I am. Thanks for talking." Lori thanked him.

"Anytime." Manny said putting her back on the ground. Lori burrowed away toward her families burrow.

"Anytime." Manny said, walking off toward The Oak Tree.

**Manny: 1pt**

**ha ha. We will learn more about Lori's brother as the story goes on.**


	7. Ah, Parents

"I look up and see Gutt holding Peaches hostage, and he has a knife!" Manny exclaimed, his face lit up by the fire Sid had provided by the Group.

Lori gasped in surprise. This really happened? Poor Peaches must have been terrified.

_This Captain Gutt seems like a scary guy, not to mention he's a murderer._ Lori thought, intently listening to Manny's story.

Louis looked over at her and laughed to himself. She was so entertained by Mannys story. She and Peaches were listening intently to Mannys version of the crazed sea tale.

"I boarded the ship only to be captured myself, He didn't want me, he wanted to destroy everything I had. I was tied up and was trying to plan an escape for he still had Peaches until I hear a voice behind me, yelling 'stop!' I turn around and see none other than… Louis!" Manny said excitingly.

Lori looked over at Louis. He really did that for them? That was so brave of him. She tuned back into the story as Manny continued.

Louis started to let his mind wonder. He had been there for the next part. He didn't like thinking about the, what others called 'heroic', thing he had done. He also didn't like dwelling on anything that had to do with Captain Gutt. By now Manny had almost finished his story

"I jumped on the end of the ice block we had been fighting on, sending Gutt flying into the air. I Quickly picked up a piece of wood and smacked Gutt so hard he went flying far, far away, but I was still on the piece of ice and I was hurting toward the water. At the last second, Precious came up out of the water and swallowed me whole, where I joined Sid and Granny at the back of the whale. I was reunited with my family, we proceeded to the island, and the rest is history." Manny finished his story happily.

"Did that really happen?" Lori asked Louis as everyone was getting up.

"Yeah, that happened." Louis replied.

"Wow, I'm glad I wasn't there." Lori said surprised.

"Bye guys." Lori said waving.

"Bye Lori." Everyone said at one point or another.

Louis had been walking her home for the last couple of days, and she loved having his company on the way back to her burrow, even if no one said a word. Once they had gotten away from The Oak Tree Lori said what she really wanted to say.

"Louis." She said getting his attention.

"Hm?" He mumbled as she broke his thoughts

"Why didn't you tell me about what you did before?" Lori asked.

"I don't like talking about stuff I did. I didn't want you to think I wanted attention or something." Louis said, rubbing his arm.

"Louis, you are so sweet." Lori said giving him a little hug. Now time for the hard part.

"My mom said I could have friends if I wanted." Lori said, plastering a fake smile on her face.

_She also said I'm moving in a couple months._ Lori finished mentally.

Louis' eyes lit up. "Really? That's great!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, great…" Lori mumbled to herself.

"So since you're walking me home, maybe you can meet my mom." Lori said happily.

"Ok, but I have to go right after." Louis said.

"That's fine." Lori said, a bit nervous. What if he didn't make a good impression? This was _Lori's_ mom after all. She tended to be a little judgmental.

Before she knew it they were in front of her burrow.

"Ok, Louis, make sure to make a good impression. And don't take anything my mom says to heart, if she says something that bothers you she probably doesn't mean it. So just be yourself and you should be fine." Lori said nervously.

"Ok." Now _Louis_ was nervous too. What if her mom hated him? What if Lori's parents didn't want them to be friends anymore?

_Calm down Louis, Everything is going to be fine._ He thought.

"Ok, let's do this." Lori said cracking her knuckles. Louis cringed at the noise.

Lori looked over at him and smirked. "Sorry." She apologized, and dove into the burrow. She emerged slowly halfway into the front room and saw her mom talking to her dad. Oh no, she hadn't been able to warn Louis about her dad.

Lori's father had, oddly enough black hair, which was very rare in molehogs. His hair was a bit thinning at the top and wasn't very long. He had eyes just like Lori, and was just about as tall as her mom. And of course, the same markings.

"Hey mom, dad, I uh, made a friend." She said emerging fully into the room. Louis followed in slowly and stood up.

"Uh, this is Louis, Louis this is my mom and my dad." Lori said, nervous.

"Oh! Uh, hello Louis. Nice to meet you." Lori's mom said shaking his hand. Lori looked at her dad.

There was absolutely no expression on his face and Lori became more and more anxious with every second of his silence.

"I don't like you." Lori's dad said glaring at Louis.

Louis shrank down and looked at the ground with a sad face. Lori looked and her dad angrily.

"And you two are…" Loris mom said gesturing to the both of them.

Louis' eyes widened and his face turned bright red.

"No!" Lori said quickly.

"What, so you aren't friends?" Lori's mom asked.

"No, that's… that's not what I meant."Lori said disappointedly.

"Oh! You thought I meant-"

"Mom!" Lori interrupted to make sure that no one heard the end of that sentence.

"Uh, Lori?" Louis said quietly.

"Yes?" She said halfheartedly.

"I have to go home my parents will be wondering where I am."

"Uh, Ok, I-I'll see you later." Lori said.

Louis backed toward the entrance and walked out. Lori walked over to it.

"Bye!" She yelled up the tunnel, and heard a quiet goodbye echo through the entrance.

"Mom, Why?" Lori asked, turning to her parents.

"It was just a question Lori's mom said. Lori looked over at her dad and he still had a stone cold angry face on from earlier. Lori walked over to him.

"I don't like him." He growled.

"Of course you don't, Daddy." Lori said giving him a little peck on the cheek.

"Goodnight." Lori said to her parents.

"Goodnight, Lori!" her mom called back as Lori went down into her room. She flopped down on her grass nest and sighed

_That did not go well._ Lori thought

**Sorry the last few chapters were late. I put them up yesterday and assumed they were automatically in the story for some reason. derp.**


	8. A Forgiving Brother

**are you guys looking at the same chapter I am?People keep saying I uploaded the wrong one but I'm looking at the right one...hmm...****  
**

Lori fell asleep after a couple hours of lying in her nest.

She opened her eyes and she was outside, and it was daytime. But, this place wasn't anywhere she had been recently, but it seemed familiar. She looked around and saw a hole in the ground. It looked like a molehog hole. She walked over and called down into it.

"Hello?" She called and then put her ear up to the hole, waiting for a response.

"Hello." She heard a little voice behind her that made her jump and when she turned around and saw the little molehog standing behind her rubbing his nose she knew exactly where she was. She got up and walked over to him crouching in front of him. Her eyes became watery and she smiled.

"Now what are you doing here?" She asked the little molehog.

"I don't know," He said in a nasally voice, he sounded like he couldn't breathe out of his nose. "I just came to-to-t-to" He was backing away and he breathed in a couple times and- "Acho!" The sneeze made him rock back on his heels. He rubbed his nose on his arm and sniffled a couple times.

He had light brown hair, just like Lori's, and green eyes. He was about six and was really little. His name was Josh, and he was Lori's brother.

"I just came to talk to you I guess." He said looking at the ground and then at her.

"But you dead." Lori said in disbelief.

Josh stuck out his toung and crossed his eyes.

"Duh!" He said.

Lori smiled and lifted him up, and resting him on her hip, walked over to the burrow entrance.

"Is anyone home?" Lori asked him. Josh shrugged.

Lori put him back down on the ground and bent down in front of the entrance, looking down into the darkness.

"Hmm…" Lori squinted to see if she could see into it.

"See anything?" Josh asked her trying to look around her and down into the burrow.

"No, that's just weird that my eyes aren't adjusting, we'd better just stay away from there."

Lori looked up at Josh. She finally had the chance to say what she'd wanted to for years and she had forgotten all about it until now. Her eyes filled with tears, she had no idea how she was going to go about saying she was sorry.

She opened her mouth to speak and no words came out.

He wiped away her tears and looked up at her with understanding eyes.

"I know. It wasn't your fault, and I don't want you to be sad anymore." He said.

"I can't bear it anymore. Every time I think about you I tear up or worse."Lori explained.

"I want you to remember the fun stuff we did, not just the fact that I died, which isn't even important. It's the games of tag that we played, and the funny stuff we drew. And that one time I sneezed so hard I got stuck to the wall." He said.

Lori laughed a little bit, that was funny.

"Ok?" He asked.

"Ok."Lori said wiping away the remnants of the tears in her eyes.

"Now you have to go into the burrow." Josh said pointing down into the burrow. "And there's one more thing I want you to remember." He said walking right up to her and looking into her eyes.

"I love you." He said quietly and gave her a hug.

"Lori hugged him back and sniffed. "I love you too."

"Now go into the burrow, and I'll be here." He said letting go.

"Ok." Lori said confused.

She walked down into the burrow and she a felt soft grass nest under her opened her eyes and she was back in her room, and oddly enough, she wasn't sad anymore. She didn't feel like crying, she could only think of the dream she had just had.

A smile grew across her face, The Dream gave her a good idea.

VVV

Louis was walking back to his families burrow after a very, very successful foraging run. He would have burrowed home but he had so much food he couldn't have without dropping most of it.

He was looking down; to make sure he didn't drop anything. The Idea came to him that he might walk into something, so he looked up to make sure he was headed in the right direction. His mouth dropped open and his arms went limp as he dropped all of the food.

There must have been a hundred holes in front of him, and mixed in among them was the entrance to his families burrow. He rubbed the skin on his forehead and looked down. He noticed, now without the food to block his vision, that he was standing on an X and he noticed that there was something written in the dirt in front of him.

"Good Luck"


	9. One of Three

**The title was supposed to be "One of Three" not "One of Tree" lololol. I'm gonna see if I could fix it.**

One week later on Monday night, Lori did something she hadn't done in years. She had a restful nights sleep on a Monday. The next day Lori was especially cheerful and ready for another adventure, and if it was an adventure she wanted, it was an adventure she got.

She and Louis hung out with Peaches all morning. Talking and doing whatever came to mind.

Once the sun made it's way to the middle of the sky they went back to Louis' house for lunch and then planned to meet Peaches back at The Oak Tree.

When they got there they said hello to Louis' mom and went down through the family room and then to the pantry.

Pantries' always freaked Louis out. They were very creepy and weird to him. All the bugs, slugs, and worms crawling all over the place. The shelves with berries on them were fine, just the living things. He was ok with them when there were minimal numbers, but when they had a lot of food, that's when they became creepy.

They both grabbed a couple berries, Louis found a grub and Lori found a worm.

"Mmm." Lori mumbled Picking it up. Louis shivered.

"What? I like worms." Lori questioned.

"Sorry." Louis said, embarrassed at his slightly rude reaction. "I just can't get past the slime, I like grubs better, no slime."

They left the pantry and climbed awkwardly into the family room, where they saw Louis' two brothers.

The two were taller than Louis, and bulkier. The one, Mark, was the one that had almost no brain, Louis had told her, and was the brawn. The other one, Noah, had a brain, but it was pure evil. He had broad shoulders and was a little handsome, of course, not exceeding Louis in Lori's opinion.

"Hey, look! It's mama's little molehog." Mark commented to his brother, standing on Louis' left.

"Well, you would be too, if you were a _runt_!" Noah said, standing on Louis' right.

Louis didn't look bothered, but Lori could tell that he was by his clenched fists.

"Hey!" Lori yelled. "Don't pick on him just because you two big idiots don't have anything better to do!"

"Oh," Mark said. "Louis, are you gonna let your girlfriend fight for you?"

"Don't push it."Lori said through clenched teeth as she made her hands into fists. The two brothers walked over and stood infront of Lori.

"Why? Whatcha gonna do half-pint."Noah said smiling.

Lori swung her fist at their heads, but they ducked just in time. And then immediately brought them back up and looked at each other horrified.

"But we can't hit girls!" Mark said. They both looked back at Lori who was smiling devilishly. She swung again at Mark and hit home right on the side of his nose.

"Ow!" He squeaked, grabbing his nose and ran out of the room and down into his own.

Noah saw him leave and looked back at Lori. She barred her teeth and glared at him. Now alone, Noah ran into his room..

Louis' mouth dropped open. Lori turned to Louis, closed his mouth, slurped up the worm like spaghetti, and left the burrow.

Louis glanced back at his brothers' rooms and then ran after Lori.

"How did you do that?" Louis asked her. Lori laughed and popped a berry in her mouth.

"Use their weaknesses against them." Lori said, and then realized she was talking with her mouth full, bushed and swallowed the berry. "Sorry. Mark just copies Noah. So I knew if I didn't swing at Noah, Mark wouldn't duck. Like you said, Mark was the brawn, so without Mark, Noah is just words." Lori told him and ate another berry.

"Ok." Louis said, memorizing it. "All Noah is without Mark is words. Seriously though, I've never seen them run so fast in my life!" Louis said excitedly. Lori laughed and they both finished off their berries.

"Come on, we need to go meet Peaches." Lori reminded him. She dove into the ground, tunneling away, and Louis followed her toward The Oak Tree.

**I just realized that this chapter is pritty short. well, whatever. you guys are gonna lovethe next chapter. MOHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHA**


	10. A Not So Good Result

"Don't worry, you go ahead, I'll meet you there." Louis told Lori. "This might take a while." He said.

They were in his room. Looking down at Louis' messed up grass nest. Louis had not been able to sleep last night and kept tossing and turning that messed up his bed. Lori had come over to get him before going to The Oak Tree to see the herd.

"Ok, I'll see you there." Lori said hesitantly. She left his room and went up to the family room, glancing back at the tunnel leading to Louis' room.

Why was she so hesitant? She'd hung out with the herd without him before.

She brushed it off and left the burrow. She climbed out the entrance and turned around, blowing a kiss toward it. Lori heard leaves shaking, and when she turned around Peaches was standing right in front of her. Lori opened her mouth to scream but Peaches covered it with her trunk.

"Shh! We must go silently." Peaches said. She picked up Lori and put her on her back. Peaches reached up and pulled herself into a nearby tree and hung there. Lori held onto Peaches' back for dear life as she easily swung back and forth a couple times to pick up speed before swinging into the next tree. She swung tree to tree, every once in a while doing a flip to cover long distances.

She finally stopped deep in the forest. And climbed out of the tree they were in.

Lori stumbled a bit from dizziness and felt sick to her stomach, like she was gonna through up. Lori knew Peaches was half possum, but she didn't even know possums could do that!

Peaches looked over at Lori and saw that she was stumbling a little and her face was a slight pale green color.

"You do exactly what Louis does when I carry him around." Peaches commented. Lori barely heard her, and came back into control of her nausea and dizziness just in time for Peaches' question.

"Do you like Louis?" She asked smiling with bright eyes ad perked ears.

"What?" Lori squeaked. "W-why do you ask?" She said nervously, trying to buy herself time to think. Was she supposed to keep it a secret? Was she supposed to tell her? Was she just supposed to act like the question was never asked?

"Well you did just blow a kiss in his direction." Peaches said frankly.

"Ok, well- I just- you can't-" Lori had no idea what to say, and just sighed. "No, Peaches, I don't!" She was at least going to fight for her secret.

"Yes ya do."

"No I don't!"

"Yes ya do."

"No I don't."

"Yes ya do."

"Yes, I do."

"Yes ya- wait, did you just say you did?" Peaches asked in disbelief.

"Yes! I did!" Lori yelled.

"Oh my god, that's great!" Peaches said picking up Lori and hugging her. Lori went limp and sighed. If she told anyone else the whole herd would know.

Peaches put her back down and before she could say a word Lori spoke up.

"But you can't tell a soul." Lori said. The last thing she wanted was for anyone else to find out.

"But what about Lou-" Lori cut her off

"Especially Louis."

"But-"

"No, Peaches."

"Ok, fine." Peaches said moving her hair away from her eyes.

Peaches lifted Lori off of the ground and put her on her back and reached for the nearest branch.

"No, we're walking this time." Lori said sternly, as to make sure she didn't get sick again.

"Ok, fine." Peaches started to walk through the forest but quickly reached up and pulled herself into a tree.

"No, no, no, no, Peaches, no!" Lori screamed as Peaches swung away through the forest.

VVV

Louis finally finished his grass nest and was admiring his work. It was neat, tidy, and perfect.

He climbed out of his room and was in the tunnel leading out of the burrow when he felt a hand pull him down by his ankle. It pushed his quills the

wrong way and hurt. He looked up and saw his brothers, and Mark had developed a bruise on the side of his nose.

"Where ya going Louis?" Noah asked while Mark grabbed Louis by his shoulders and stood him up.

"To see my friends, because unlike some people, I actually have some." Louis said staring up at his brothers.

"Well, looks like you gonna be a little late." Noah remarked.

"What do you mean?" Louis asked, expecting a chore his brothers were too lazy to do or one his mom had assigned him.

"Just because we can't hit your girlfriend, doesn't mean we can't hit you."

VVV

When Peaches and Lori arrived at The Oak Tree they saw Sid talking to the herd.

"Hi." Peaches said lifting Lori off her back.

"Hi Peaches, hi Lori." Sid said

They greeted the herd and sat down to listen to the conversation. This went on for a couple minutes until…

"Hey guys." They heard Louis say from behind. They turned around to see that he was facing away from them. Everyone stared at him.

"Uh, hi?" Shira said in a confused voice.

"What going on?" Louis asked seemingly cheerfully, but his voice sounded a little funny.

"More like what's going on with you." Peaches said with a raised eyebrow.

"Louis, could you turn around please?" Lori asked. Louis put a hand up to his face and turned around covering his eye and nose.

"Now move your hand." Lori requested.

"I'd rather not." Louis said.

"Louis, move your hand." Lori told him gently

Louis sighed but didn't move his hand. Lori reached up and gently moved his hand.

The whole herd gasped at the sight that greeted them. Louis' eye was black and blue and his nose was slightly red.

Surprise covered Lori's face and then a frown appeared and she looked at him sadly.

"Let me see." Lori said. Before Louis could move away she moved his hair away from his eye. Louis blushed at the close contact.

"Open you eye as far as you can." She instructed him.

Louis tried to open his eye. He stretched it too far and flinched. Lori moved her hand away when he did, afraid she hurt him somehow. He tried to open it again, this time mindful of how far he opened it. At most it went a little past half way open.

Lori took a step back and Louis tried to walk over to the Oak Tree to sit down but when he took a step his knee buckled from a bruise that was keeping him from walking and he almost fell over. Luckily Lori caught him and put his arm over her shoulders to take weight off of his foot.

She walked him over to a root from the tree and he sat down. Louis rubbed his quills, they were still sore from when his brothers pulled him down the tunnel backwards.

"What happened?" Ellie asked.

"My brothers, that's what happened." Louis said. Now Lori knew why his voice sounded funny, his nose had obviously been hurt.

"Have they ever hurt you before?" Lori asked.

"Uh, yeah." Peaches cut in.

"He's come back with bruises, cuts, scrapes, black eyes," Manny listed.

"Once he came to see us with a broken arm." Shira growled.

"Doesn't you mom do anything?" Lori asked.

"Yeah, she grounded them for three weeks and they have to do all my chores until I'm healed but it hasn't detoured them in the past." Louis answered.

"If I ever got my trunk on those two I'd let 'em have it!" Peaches screamed in anger.

Lori's anger bubbled up inside her. How could they do that? He was their brother for peat sake! You should never hurt family, especially if they were as innocent as Louis!

"Well you know what, were gonna teach them a lesson about how to treat their brother." Lori said to the herd.

"What are we going to do?" Finn asked.

"Are we gonna rough 'em up a little bit?" Crash asked jumping from left to right and then punching at the air.

"No," Lori said "if we hurt them then Louis will get in trouble, and we probably shouldn't hurt them anyway. However we could always scare them into not beating up Louis"

"But how do we do that?"Ellie asked.

"I have a few ideas." Lori replied.

**I am so evil. I haven't written the next chapter yet so it will be a while before I update. I also need to figure out where I wanna go from here. I have an idea of what I want to happen but I have to put in into words. were nearing the end of the fanfic too and I'm so excited that I get to write the end soon! XD**


	11. Love's Grasp

Louis was leaning up against his wall in his room, just relaxing. His quills still were sore and his leg hurt from half digging half walking home and of course, his eye was sill blue and purple, the only change was that he could barely open it now. When he and Lori had walked in his brothers stifled a laugh and his mom glared at them.

Louis ran his hand through his hair.

_Louis, what have you gotten yourself into?_ He thought.

He had no idea how Lori and the herd were going to pull off scaring his brothers into not beating him up anymore. Louis sat Indian style and stared up at the ceiling, which he could barely see.

Just then Louis' dad walked in. he looked a lot like Louis and had broad shoulders and brownish gray eyes, which made a very strange color combination. He was much taller than Louis and had hair that was just barely longer than Louis'. He also had small glasses that were carved out of a log, rather than like Brian's glasses that were made up of sticks, that covered about half of his eyes and stayed about halfway down his nose.

"Louis?" He said to get his sons' attention.

Louis looked up and his dad flinched sympathetically.

"Your mother told me they beat you up."He said sitting down next to Louis.

"Yeah." Louis said looking at the ground.

"They're just big bullies." Louis' dad said. "And they don't have a female friend to take care of them." He said nudging Louis' arm. Louis smiled.

"You're the first one that didn't say girlfriend." Louis said.

"Why is she your girlfriend?" His dad asked.

"No." Louis said way too quickly.

"Ok, ok, sorry I asked." He said surprised. He was silent for a couple seconds and looked around the room. Then back at Louis "Is she cute?"

Louis looked at him in a What-Did-I-Just-Say manner.

"Yes." Louis replied.

His dad chuckled.

"So you do like her?" Louis' father asked.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. That's for me to know and for you to possibly never find out." Louis said.

"Ok, well, goodnight buddy." His dad said getting up to leave the room.

"Goodnight dad." Louis said as his dad left.

VVV

It took Louis forever to fall asleep. His injuries keeping him awake. And even when he did fall asleep, He didn't sleep well.

Louis was somewhere familiar. That's it, he was at The Falls. However the last time he had been to the falls he was 20. This was all too familiar to the molehog. Peaches was standing in front of him and he felt warm. Uh oh, this was getting worse by the minute. Before he could stop himself he blurted out something he would regret for the rest of his life.

"I love you."

Peaches stared at him wide eyed and shocked. She picked him up, carrying him over to somewhere there weren't animals all around them. She placed him on the ground and he looked up at her in confusion.

"Louis." She said gently and slowly. "Some things aren't supposed to change, and I think this is one of those things." Louis looked up at her in disappointment and felt tears come to his eyes. His ears flopped down and Peaches looked at his sadly.

Suddenly he was in a different place, somewhere in the woods, and Lori was standing in Peaches' place. His eyes were still filled with tears that threatened to drip down his cheeks.

"Louis, I just don't feel the same way." She said looking in his eyes.

Louis rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

"No." He whispered. "This can't be happening."

Lori took a step toward him and he took a step back then turned and tunneled away in the direction on his burrow, tears running down his cheeks as he sobbed the whole way.

VVV

Louis jolted awake with a yelp and quickly realized his face was wet. He rubbed his eyes. He must have been crying in his sleep.

He pulled himself out of bed and limped over to the tunnel to his room and quickly left the burrow and started walking and thinking.

Now there was no chance of him telling Lori how he felt. Maybe he wouldn't have to anyway. There was still a possibility that it would go away, right? Louis looked at his feet as he walked. All he could hear was the wind and the trees that it would move. He listened to the song of the wind and felt its gentle pull on his hair. The wind mixed with a gentle tapping sound was the perfect thing so soothe his spirits. Wait, tapping sound?

Louis walked into a little fuzzy individual that almost fell backwards. He looked up and saw Brian, whose glasses had popped off upon running into Louis.

"Oh, uh," Louis reached for the glasses that were now sitting on the ground.

He handed them to Brian who put them on.

"Louis, I didn't see you there. I'm so sorry for bumping into you." Brian said.

"It's ok; I wasn't looking where I was going either." Louis apologized. Louis started walking and Brian walked with him. After a couple minutes of silence Brian spoke up.

"So what are you thinking about?" He asked.

Louis was a little caught off guard by the question.

"Nothing." He said. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"So, I-I was just wondering, y-you know you don't have to answer, but I was w-wondering, what's g-going on with you and Crash?" Louis asked.

"Oh," Brian said in surprise and thought about it for a little. "I am not completely sure, but we diffidently not friends anymore."

"Oh, that's great." Louis replied.

"What's going on with you?" Brian asked.

"Uh, not much." Louis said looking away.

"Ok."Brian said awkwardly.

Suddenly Crash popped out of a bush.

"Where have you been?" He asked Brian.

"Sorry, I was restless so I went for a walk."

"With Weiner?"

"I bumped into him on my walk." Brian said. "Literally."

Crash stared at Louis. "Sounds like Weiner." He said.

Louis rolled his eyes.

"Let's go back to bed." Crash said and he and Brian ran off toward The Oak Tree.

Louis continued walking and before long it was getting close to dawn. He had no idea where he was but he could see the lake a little so he had a good idea.

He was looking at his feet again as he walked. The birds were waking up and began singing their morning ballad. Louis, at that moment, realized how big his feet were compared to his legs. He looked at them confused and stopped walking for a second staring at them.

All of a sudden another small fuzzy thing ran into him, and hard. Louis almost fell back and looked up. He saw Lori who had been knocked to the ground in the collision. She looked confused and scared. Lori looked up at him and the cheeks turned a rosy pink color. Louis raised his eyebrows. Usually Lori was hard to embarrass.

Louis held out his hand and she pulled herself up.

"Sorry I ran into you." Lori apologized.

"It's ok. Uh, I know you usually wake up at dawn but, why are you all the way over here?" Louis asked.

"I was wondering around and got lost on my way back to my burrow." She explained.

"Oh, well I can show you how to get back." Louis suggested.

"Thanks." Lori said relieved. "I know it's kind of stupid, but I was a little scared." She said.

Louis smiled softly at her. "No, it's not stupid. Come on." Louis said and started walking in the opposite direction he had been facing. Lori walked with him as the sun was rising and the sky was getting lighter by the minute.

"So do you feel any better than yesterday?" Lori asked.

"Well now that you mention it my quills feel better, but I can still barely open my eye. Um, this is sort of random, but what _were_ you doing?" Louis asked curiously.

"I was just…walking." Lori said.

Louis looked over at her.

"So um, what do you have in mind for my brothers?" Louis asked.

Lori smiled deviously. "Well I was thinking that a certain mammoth could take them for a swing through the trees." Lori said letting out an evil laugh towards the sky.

Louis looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she looked at him and mimicked his face, and they both laughed.

**Hello again. this did not take as long as I thought it would.**


	12. The Perfect Plan

Lori looked down at her piece of bark with a check list written on it.

Vines…check.

Berry bush…check.

Spare leafs…check.

Baby trees…check.

"I feel like Brian." She said laughing. It had been three weeks since Louis had been beat up and she and Brain had come up with a fool proof plan to make sure that Louis' brothers couldn't escape while they were talking to them.

Everyone was busy setting up the trap. Manny pulled down one of two small trees that were parallel to each other and had a berry bush in the middle. Peaches tied a vine to the tree. The vine was tied to a steak that made the vine go across the area between the two trees and was tied to another steak that was tied to the top of the other tree, making both the trees bend towards each other. Then there were two more vines. One was tied to the top of one of the trees and hung down somewhat loosely and had been tied on a loop at the end that was sitting on the ground. The other vine was tied in the same way to the other small tree.

Lori turned around when she heard footsteps and a dragging sound.

"Oh, hey Louis I- GAH!" She jumped when she saw that Louis was dragging a gigantic knife.

"Uh, what is _that _for?" Lori asked walking over to inspect the bone knife.

"I thought maybe we could use it for something." Louis said.

"Um, ok, since we can't lift it, I'll go get my knife for you, me, Crash, and Eddie and those guys can use it." Lori said gesturing to Peaches, Sid, Diego and Shira, Manny, and Ellie.

"You have a knife?" Louis asked in surprise.

"Wouldn't you be more surprised if I _didn't_ have one?" Lori retorted.

Louis nodded and Lori handed him her piece of bark and twig she was using to write with. She tunneled away in the direction of her burrow, disappearing quickly.

"So how is this supposed to work?" Louis asked Peaches.

"Well, when you brothers come over to pick some berries, the vines are placed so when the trip on the vine it will snap and pick them up by their ankles and they'll just hang there. Then we will be able to interrogate them all we please," Peaches said. "And scare them a little." She added in smiling.

"Ok, that'll work. But um, they won't get hurt right?" Louis asked.

"Oh no, of course not." Peaches said and Louis let out a sigh of relief.

Lori returned with a little carved wooden knife with a hole at the bottom for her thumb.

"Hey that's cool, It's like the perfect sized." Louis said Looking at the knife.

"I know! And check this out." She said pointing to her name that was carved into the side.

"That's pretty cool." Peaches said inspecting the little weapon.

"So your brothers are ungrounded today right?"Lori asked Louis.

"Yes, and in fact," Louis said looking up at the sun. "They should be getting here any second now. So if you guys are done setting up we should probably hide."

"Alright then, let's hide."Lori said. "Everybody hide! They're going to be here soon!"

**This chapter is insanely short but it had to be done! /)^3^(\**


	13. Stupid Brothers

Louis and Lori hid behind a bush as the two brothers approached the trap underground. The whole herd was hiding all around the trap. The possums, not including half possums, were in the trees, the mammoths were hiding behind some boulders, and the sabers were in some bushes.

Louis' brothers popped up out of the ground and walked toward the berry bush. Just as predicted, they tripped the vine. Surprise was evident as they were yanked up into the air and dangled by their ankles parallel to each other.

"Help!" They both screamed.

Lori waited a second for dramatic effect and then stepped out from behind the bush twirling her knife around her finger by the thumb hole.

"Oh, wow, Look at you two. I didn't expect to see you here." She said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"Thank goodness!" Mark exclaimed. "I thought we were going to be stuck here forever!"

"Mark." Noah said. "Doesn't it seem a little fishy to you that she just so happens to be here?"

"Well, now that you mention it…" Mark trailed off.

"So, what do you want in return for letting us go?"

Peaches walked forward and stood right in front of Louis' brothers.

"We want you to stop beating up Louis!" She said jabbing him in the stomach with her trunk.

"And if we refuse?" Noah asked.

"We leave you here, to fend for your self's." Shira said walking up to them. "And may I remind you that we are the only one that now where this is."

"You couldn't just leave us here." Mark said trying but failing miserably to hide his anxiety.

"Watch us." Lori said smiling. Everyone turned and walked away into the woods.

"Lori, what are we doing?" Louis asked enviously. Lori looked strait ahead as she counted down.

"Three…two…one."

"Wait!" Noah and Mark yelled after them.

_How did she know that was gonna happen?_ Louis thought.

"Just call it intuition." Lori said as if she had read his mind. Everyone turned around and looked back at the brothers.

"Does this include mental beating?" Mark asked.

"Yes…" Lori said

"Fine, we'll do it."

Lori held out her knife to her side and Eddie grabbed it as he ran by her and ran up the first tree that had mark dangling from it.

"Careful Eddie!" Finn said nervously.

Mark slammed into the ground on his head and did a little of a head stand before tipping over onto his back. Noah expertly grabbed the vine around his ankle so that he almost landed on his feet when he hit the ground. They brushed themselves off, looking around at the group. Lori threw her knife up into the air and caught it at the handle, pointing the tip at Louis' brothers and baring her teeth menacingly. They ran off and Lori smiled, proud of herself as ever.

**Ugg, writers block. thank god that's over, it was painful to write that chapter. finally I can get on to the good stuff, MOHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA!**


	14. Where's Shira

It was a cloudy day in the village and rain was scheduled for later in the evening. The herd, besides Peaches, Diego, and Shira, was hanging out on the beach and swimming in the lake.

Lori stood out on a group of boulders that lead out a little ways into the lake. She kneeled down on the end of the farthest boulder and looked into the shimmery blue water of The Lake. Lori couldn't see the bottom and didn't know how deep it was.

Lori had never been in The Lake before, and was unsure about it, and secretly, a little scared. She squinted her eyes to see if there were any fish.

"Lori?" Lori jumped when she heard Louis behind her. She had been so focused on the lake she hadn't heard him walk up.

"Not to sound pushy, but, aren't you going in?" Louis asked

"Sure, is it deep enough to jump in here?" Lori asked him still trying to see to the bottom.

"Yeah, Peaches usually jumps in over here." Louis answered, Looking at the lake to see what she was looking at.

Lori silently prayed, hoping she wouldn't land on a sharp rock. She backed up a couple feet and then ran up and did a cannon ball, making a little splash.

The water was diffidently cold, but nice. She forced herself to open her eyes, expecting to see nothing but blue all around her. Though the sight that meet her gold and green eyes was anything but. The water was crystal clear. She could see every pebble, plant and minnow in the water. She heard a muffled bubbly sound and spun around to see Louis open his eyes and smile. She looked down and ran her hand through the stringy weeds on the floor on the lake. Louis swam over and tapped hr shoulder. She turned and saw him point to the surface and they swam up to get a breath of air. She got to the top after Louis and took a deep breath.

Louis dove down again and Lori looked below the surface and saw him stop at the bottom. She saw him just as he pulled something out of the sand and swam back to the surface.

They found a boulder that was low enough and climbed out of the water, Louis hiding the shiny thing from her as they walked over across the boulders to the beach.

"The water is beautiful!" Lori said as they walked back to the beach.

"I know it's-" Louis began but was cut off by a voice unfamiliar to Lori.

"Hey Louis!" Louis looked up and saw his almost ex-enemy Ethan. He and Peaches must have just arrived. They arrived at the beach and walked up to the couple.

"Hey Louis, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend!" Ethan said happily.

"She's not my girlfriend." Louis said. "Lori this is Ethan, Ethan this is Lori."

"Nice to meet you." Lori said.

"You too." Ethan responded.

"Diego!" Manny called, looking down the beach. Everyone looked the way he was. "What's up buddy?" Manny asked.

Diego was running at top speed down the beach. Panic written all over his face. As he became closer, everyone picked up on the urgency. Diego soon reached the group and skidded to a stop in front of them, catching his breath.

"Diego, what's wrong?" Ellie asked with concern.

Diego, now breathing almost steadily, could speak. "Has anyone seen Shira? I can't find her."

"No we thought she was with you!" Manny exclaimed.

Louis and Lori looked at each other and could see the worry on each others' faces. Obviously neither had seen her.

_This is not going to end well._ Louis thought. Shira was one week from giving birth and, for Diego's sake; it had to go off without a hitch. She was most vounerable right now. Shira couldn't hunt, jump, or touch her toes.

"Let's split up." Lori suggested, thinking fast.

"Ok, me and Ellie, Peaches and Louis-"

"Dad!" Peaches cut Manny off. Manny sighed.

"Peaches and Ethan, Louis and Lori, Crash and Eddie, Finn and Brian, and Diego can go it alone." Manny instructed taking control of the situation. "Split up!"

Everyone went in different directions. Ethan and Peaches took the beach, Diego taking off in the direction he had come in, and everyone stormed the woods.

Once Louis and Lori reaches solid ground they tunneled away through the trees, popping up every once in a while to look and listen for the lost saberess.

"Louis?" Lori called as they tunneled. "Do you think Shira's ok?"

They stopped and popped out of the ground. Louis looked at her and saw she looked genuinely worried.

"I don't want to think about it, but if I had to guess, she can handle herself. I'm sure she's fine." Louis lied. He didn't like lying, but he idn't want Lori to worry. In all actuality, Louis was pretty sure Shira had gotten herself into some sort of trouble.

They kept looking. Tunneling, then popping up, listening, then looking. After a couple minutes of looking, they started to lose hope of finding her. Then after almost ten minutes of looking, they finally heard something.

Snarling and growling was coming from up ahead.

"Help!" A voice called from the location after a frustrated growl.

"Shira?" Louis wondered aloud.

"Help! Diego! Somebody, anybody!" Shira called in distress. The two Molehogs tunneled forward to find her. She was struggling to reach her foot that had a piece of twine coiled around it. Unable to reach it over her belly, she was trapped. Shira looked up, about to call for help agin, when she saw Louis and Lori standing there.  
"Oh thank god!" Shira exclaimed in relief.

"What happened?" Louis asked as he and Lori ran over to Shira, examining her foot. It was turning purple as the twine grew tighter and tighter.

"I was going to get a drink from a creek near here and told Diego I would be right back, but I saw this little piece of twine. I came over to see what it was and when I was walking away my foot got caught." Shira explained.

"Louis, you go get Diego and tell him we've found her. I'll try and get Shira out of here." Lori instructed. Louis nodded quickly and tunneled away.

"Don't worry Shira, I'll get you out." Lori reassured the expecting mother. Lori started chewing on the line, using her sharp little teeth to try and sever the line.

Footsteps made themselves known through the trees, a _lot_ of footsteps.

"What's that?" Shira asked.

"I mon't mow." Lori mumbled around the twine.

A couple woops and hollers accompanied the footsteps that were growing ever closer.

"Hunters!" Lori said in surprise at the sudden realization.

"Hurry, cut the twine!" Shira said

Lori bit even harder this time but the twine wouldn't cut. A part of the line loosened and snapped. The hunters sounded like they were right on top of them.

"Lori!" Shira screamed in terror right as six or seven men came through the bushes, looking down on them. The girls froze . All the hunters had spears and were pointing them at Shira and Lori.

One of the hunters nudged Lori off the twine with his spear and knocked her down so she was sitting and leaning back on her hands, twirling the spear ever so slightly in front of her face. Fear coursed through her as the spear grew closer. She tried to edge back a bit but her hand slipped and she fell back.

Suddenly Diego exploded out of the bushes with a defining roar and prowled over to Shira, standing over her, and swiping the spear away from Lori and to the ground. Louis tunneled up in front of Lori and climbed out of his hole. Lori scrambled to her feet and stood behind Louis who looked a little scared.

One hunter, seemingly the leader, was in the middle of the line of men stepped forward toward Diego and Shira, and then… stopped.

His expression of anger loosened and became surprise. Diego ceased growling and stepped of Shira and stood next to her.

"What are you doing?" Shira whispered urgently.

Diego didn't answer as the hunter grew closer, it kneeled down in front of the tigers and slowly reached for the twine. Shira growled and he pulled back then reached forward and cut the liune with his spear tip. Shira was so shocked she didn't move and it intangled the twine from her foot.

Immediately Shira scrambled to her feet. She quickly hissed at the humans and then disappeared into the bush. Diego looked up at the hunter and smiled, it did so too. The hunter covered his eyes and then uncovered them and Diego did the same with one paw, then ran off in the direction that Shira disappeared in.

Lori and Louis looked in the direction Diego shot off in and then looked back at the hunters. They all stared at one another for a moment. The weird hunter that Diego had looked at smiled, right at that moment Louis and Lori disappeared into the ground.

They all kept running until they almost came to the beach. Diego and Shira stopped running and tried to catch their breath. Louis and Lori came up out of the ground, also trying to catch their breath.

Shira looked up at Diego and smiled.

"Thanks softie." Shira called him by his pet name that seemed to annoy him and yet he never really wanted her to stop calling him that. She walked up to him and nuzzled his neck and rubbed under his chin and they both started purring.

Louis put his hands on his knees and leaned on them, trying to catch his breath. He looked up at Lori and saw she was doing the same, accept she looked different. Her eyes were dilated and she was staring at the ground. Louis stood up, still a little out of breath.

"Are you ok?" Louis asked with concern. She looked up at him and her eyes slowly started to become smaller. She stood up strait and her lip started to quiver and her eyes watered. Louis stared at her questioningly and then she ran forward, wrapping her arms around him and crying her eyes out.

"Uh, it's ok." Louis said awkwardly.

"I…thought…I w-was…gonna…die!" Lori cried between sobs.

_Oh, she was just scared._ Louis thought.

"It's ok." Louis murmured, hugging back. "It's ok, you're safe."

Lori's sobs soon quieted and they headed for the beach. When they got there the herd was waiting for them. They fixed up Shira's foot and headed for home, the sudden crisis now over.


	15. New Arrivals

Louis tunneled as fast as he could toward Lori's burrow. Sid and Manny had been sent to get water, Ellie was trying to calm Shira, Peaches and Ethan were trying to distract Diego who was pacing like a madman, and Louis had been sent to go retrieve Lori.

He arrived at the burrow and knocked hard next to the entrance. Lori's mom appeared in the burrow entrance and looked up at Louis quizzically.

"Hi, uh, I need Lori, now." Louis said urgently. Lori's mom eyed Louis for a second and then hesitantly disappeared into the burrow. Louis tapped his foot impatiently, wishing for them to hurry up.

Lori appeared in the burrow entrance and glared up at Louis. It was before sunrise so Louis wasn't surprised she was angry.

"Oh, this better be good." Lori said crossing her arms.

"Shira is giving birth." Louis said.

Lori's ears perked and a smile crept onto her face. "Good enough for me!" She said happily. She climbed out of the burrow and looked back down the tunnel.

"Cubs being born, be back in a couple hours!" Lori called down.

"Wait, what?" Lori's mom called back up at her.

"I can just see her face right now." Lori said to herself, smiling and turning around to face Louis. "Shall we?" She asked.

"We shall." Louis said. "Ladies first."

"What a gentleman." Lori said sarcastically and dove into the ground, heading for The Oak Tree. Louis followed her down the tunnel.

When Louis and Lori arrived at The Oak Tree they found no one was there.

"Oh, ops." Louis apologized. "I forgot we moved Shira to The Caves, since it's cooler."

Lori looked at him with a puzzled expression. The Caves? Lori hadn't even heard of The Caves. Louis could tell by her face that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Just follow me." Louis said and dove back into the ground, and this time with Lori following, they tunneled toward the so called caves.

They arrived in front of a cave that was just big enough to fit a large mammoth. Diego was pacing at the mouth of the cave that was crammed into a cliff side with tons of other caves that were all different shapes and All attempts at calming Diego had failed so Ethan and Peaches were sitting and talking with Manny to supervise.. Crash, Eddie, Finn, and Brian were relaxing on top of Peaches and Sid was listening to the conversation.

"I can't wait to have kids." Peaches said dreamily.

"Yes, you can." Manny said with an I-do-not-trust-you glare at Ethan.

"Yeah! Another baby mammoth would be so fun!"Crash said ,ignoring Manny's comment. Manny rolled his eyes.

"How can you guys just sit there and talk while Shira-"

"Peaches, get in here!" they all heard Ellie's voice echo from inside of the cave.

"That's my cue!" Peaches said getting up and walking into the cave. She popped her head out from inside of the cave and looked at Lori.

"Do you want to help?" She asked.

"Nah, I think I'd better stay out here." Lori said.

"Mk!" Peaches said happily and disappeared into the cave.

Lori looked around for other ways to be useful when her eyes fell on Diego who was still pacing back and forth in front of the cave mouth.

Lori had never really known Diego that well, though she could still tell her was worried sick.

"Diego?" Lori asked. "Are you ok?"

Diego stopped and looked at her. "No! Shira could be dead! Deceased! Kicked the bucket! Swimming with the fishes!"

"Diego?" Sid tried to get his attention.

"She could be dieing!" Diego continued, completely ignoring Sid.

"Diego?

"Or a cub could be dieing!"

"Diego?"

"Or Shira could be dieing!"

"Diego!"

"What?" Diego snapped.

"Do you hear that?" Sid asked. Everyone was quiet as they all listened. A faint mewling was coming from inside the cave. Diego, followed by the herd, plus Ethan and Lori, entered the cave. There at the back of the cave was Shira laying on the ground with two little squirmy cubs in between her front paws, both getting a bath from their mother.

"We were just coming out to get you." Ellie said who was standing next to Peaches. Diego seemed to be completely oblivious to them and walked up to Shira. He sniffed the two cubs, then looked down on them and smiled.

"This one is a girl." Shira said pointing with her nose to one of the little cubs who was white with orange stripes.

"And this one is a boy." Shira said pointing again with her nose to the other cub that was orange with black stripes. He mewled and cuddled closer to his mother's chest.

Diego laughed and layed down facing Shira. Not taking his eyes off of his family. Shira looked up and saw everyone was standing back a little bit.

"Come here, we don't bite," Shira said smiling. "and they couldn't even if they wanted to."

Sid was the first one to walk over. He stood next to Diego and looked the new family.

"So what are you going to name them?" Sid asked. Diego and Shira looked at each other.

"Ideas?" Shira asked.

"Um, well," Diego looked down at the cubs. "This one could be dawn, because her pelt reminds me of the sky at dawn."

"Ok," Shira said, nodding her head. "That one's nice. And staying on that theme, this one can be Dark because his pelt sort of reminds me of the sky late in the day." Shira said.

"That's so cute, Dawn and Dark!" Peaches said walking over and looking down at her tiny cousins. Soon everyone was congregated around the newest additions to the herd. Dark picked up his head and yawned, showing off his little gums and pink toung.

**AWWW! Dark is so cute! I hope you liked it. alright, I think it's the beginning of the end you guys. I feel as if I should have done more possum stuff and mentioned Ethan more. I was wondering If I should just us Ethan or make a new mammoth. Until I come up with one, I'm just gonna go with , Ethan isn't good enough...maybe this will be longer than I thought...Climax come after this chapter so you need to wait a little because it's two chapters long.**


	16. Three Words

Louis and Lori walked out of the pantry with their usual lunch.

"I still don't get why you don't like worms so much." Lori laughed. "Slime isn't that bad is it?"

They were home alone while the rest of Louis' family was at a race he had not cared to go to.

"Yes it is." Louis responded. "Listen, you can like slime all you want, marry it for all I care, but you can never make me eat it."

Lori laughed There was an awkward silence while they were eating, but it was quickly broken when they were done.

"You wanna go meet up with the herd?" Louis asked.

"Well, actually Louis, I need to talk to you." Lori said sadly.

Louis looked in her eyes and could tell something was troubling her.

"Sure, what is it?" Louis asked.

"Louis I-" Lori felt a lump in her through and bit her lip. She looked down and pushed all her sadness away. She looked back up into Louis' eyes.

"Louis, I'm moving." Lori said.

"You mean, nearby?" Louis asked hopefully.

"No, no, out of the valley." Lori said turning and pacing between Louis and the wall, her emotions threatened to spill over.

"Why?" Louis asked. She couldn't just be leaving for no reason.

"My parents said something about too many hawks." Lori said.

"But you don't have to move that far away do you? Can't you move somewhere closer?" Louis asked, now frantic. This couldn't be happening; it had to be some sort of sick joke.

"My dad said that he went all over the valley but there wasn't anywhere that was better than here." Lori stopped pacing and stood in front of Louis and looked into his pained brown eyes. She tried to hold it in but a couple tears fell down her cheeks.

"Please." Louis said softly. "Just stay."

Lori was now on the verge of crying her eyes out and could barely get any words out.

"That's not my decision to make…" her voice trailed off.

_Should I tell her?_ Louis asked himself. _This could be my last chance._

_Should I tell him? _Lori asked herself. _I might never see him again._

_No, I can't make this any harder for her._ Louis thought.

_No, I can't make this any more difficult. _Lori thought.

"What if only you stay?" Louis asked on the verge of tears.

"I can't just let my parents go off to god knows where until god knows when." Lori looked at the ground as another tear slipped down her cheek. She would have to go now.

"Have you already said goodbye to everyone else, because I could come with you?" Louis asked, hoping to be able to spend more time with the little molehog he had come to like so much.

"Yes, I have," Lori said, choking back sadness. "And now it's your turn." She whispered.

"No." Louis said softly, only postponing the inevitable.

"Goodbye Louis." She whispered and hesitantly turned toward the entrance. Before she even moved Louis reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Please, don't go. Please?" Louis said softly, his voice cracking the slightest bit.

Lori didn't turn to face him. She wouldn't, she couldn't. She felt her lip quiver and she closed her eyes tight. She squeezed his hand.

"Goodbye." She whispered and slipped away out the entrance. Louis just stood there for a moment and then looked at the hand she had held with hers.

_Goodbye…_ Louis thought the word he had not dared say to her, fearing that he might burst into tears. Tears welled up in his eyes. No, that was not going to be the last thing he said to Lori. That was _not_ going to be the last time he held her hand. He forced back his tears and ran out of the burrow.

"Lori I-" She was gone. No trace. Louis took a couple steps and wrung his hands. He looked down. There were a couple of her foot prints in the dirt on the path but they suddenly disappeared after a foot or two. There was no tunnel so she couldn't have left that way.

_Where'd she go? It's not like she had wings or something…_ Louis thought. He walked over to the end of her foot prints and looked closer; he noticed little scrapes in the dirt. Then it hit him. Wings. He heard something like a gasp behind him and he turned around just in time to see Lori hit the ground with a sickening thud.

VVV

Louis tunneled faster than he had ever in his life. He needed to find help, there was no way he would deal with this all alone, and Lori… well let's just say Lori couldn't help him this time. His best bet would be to go to The Oak Tree and pray that someone was there, and that's exactly what he did.

Louis fought back tears of fear and pain and kept going. He was getting close so he started to call out.

"Peaches!" His voice cracked and he realized that he hadn't yelled near loud enough for them to hear him, so he yelled even louder.

"Peaches!" That might have been Lou enough, had he not been under ground.

"Peaches!" That was loud enough. He could tell from the fact that his ears were ringing. "Peaches!"

He popped out of the ground right in front of The Oak Tree. Peaches and Ellie were standing right in front of him and they stared at him in surprise, they had heard him alright. Louis wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"Louis, what-" Peaches began but Louis cut her off.

"Lori was picked up by a hawk!" Louis choked out.

"What?!" Ellie asked in surprise. "Where is she now?"

"She's in my parent's burrow." He answered.

"Take us to her." Ellie ordered and Louis disappeared into the ground, and with Peaches and Ellie following, tunneled toward his family's burrow.

VVV

Louis pulled Lori out of the burrow and sat on his knees, holding her at an angle from the ground.

"I think she's unconscious because I found her heart beat, and she must be breathing shallow because I can't feel it." Louis told them. He wanted to cry. He wanted to cry his eyes out, and not to have to deal with this. But he had to keep himself bottled up. He couldn't break down, Lori needed him.

Lori's eyelids fluttered and her eyes opened half way, but she squeezed them closed again and grabbed Louis' hand.

"Lori?" Louis questioned.

Lori let go of his hand and pointed to her throat.

"What?" Louis asked, leaning forward and put his ear up to her nose. He still couldn't hear her breathing. When he leaned back her eyes where now open and pleading for help.

_Please, please understand Louis! _Lori thought, if only she could tell him.

"Guys, I… I don't think she can breathe." Louis said. Lori nodded her head vigorously.

"What do we do?" Peaches asked as she began to panic.

"CPR!" Ellie said after a couple seconds of thinking. "Louis you have to breathe for her!"

Louis' eyes grew wide as the stared and Ellie and then looked down at Lori, she nodded.

"I hope you don't want to be friends after this." Louis said, leaning down and breathing into her lungs. Her lungs emptied but she still couldn't breathe.

"Do it again." Ellie instructed.

Louis did as he was told but it still didn't work. Peaches burst into tears and turned to her mother.

"Lori you have to focus." Ellie said moving Lori's hair away from he face and Loti nodded.

"Do it again. "Ellie instructed Louis and from then on it was trial and error. Lori was growing weaker and could barely hold her eyes open.

Louis looked down at her as a few tears fell down her face and his own tears threatened to spill. He looked at her, and knew whatever he said to her, and he intended to make it count.

"Lori." He said to gain her attention.

_I'm sorry. _Lori thought. _I should have told you while I had the chance._ A few more tears fell down her cheeks.

"Do you remember when we first met?" Louis asked. Lori nodded weakly, recalling the seemingly old memory.

"You said that you weren't supposed to go that far from your burrow, but you decided to, and that's the decision that made that day one of the best of my life." Louis said, choosing his words carefully. "A-and whenever I look at you, my life gets a little bit better. We need you. I-I need you." Louis leaned closer.

_I'm sorry Louis._ Lori thought while her eyes closed.

"I love you." He pressed his lips to hers and there was a sudden weight.

Louis leaned back and looked at her, tears welled up in his eyes and he couldn't help but let out a short sob. She was gone. Her eyes were closed softly and she looked chillingly relaxed. He put his ear to her chest, her heart beat was gone now.

Though Lori was still warm, Louis felt cold, and his chest hurt, like someone ripped out his heart and ripped it in half and threw it into the dirt right in front of him. He was a little detached from the world, and had not even noticed Peaches and Ellie were crying, let alone still there.

He looked at her face and moved a lock of hair out of the way so he could see it better. He would never get to see her again. She would never open her beautiful, unique gold and green eyes to look into his ever again like she had before. The color, the emotion, the personality, the way she made everyone around her happy. Her bright aura that made you want to be around her. Her beautiful light brown hair would never shine like it used to. Her would never feel her warm embrace, but most importantly, he would never, ever, be able to look into her eyes and tell her he loved her.

_Three words. _Louis thought. _Three words, and I didn't say them. Now, she's…she's gone and she'll never know how I felt. What is my Problem! _He thought angrily. Louis looked back down at her and his anger subsided. _Three words…_

Louis' lip started to quiver and his eyes fill up with tears all over again, only this time, he didn't try to hold it in. Louis pulled Lori's body close and sobbed, letting his emotions spill out.

"I'm sorry." Louis whispered. "I'm so sorry." Then he heard something unexpected.

**are you surprised I actually killed her? I bet you were.**


	17. Even Death Will Take a Rain Check

_Thump thump._

Louis' ears pricked and he held her in the original position, tears still falling from his eyes. He could have imagined it. No, this had to be real.

_Thump thump._

There it was again. Louis wiped his eyes and put his ear up to her chest.

_Thump thump._

It was her heart.

_Thump thump. Thump thump._

"Lori?" Louis called in disbelief.

Suddenly Lori's eyes shot open and she gasped, taking a couple deep breaths. She looked up at Louis, and in his opinion, her eyes were even brighter than before. She stared around, her eyes portraying extreme surprise.

"Lori!?" Peaches yelled in surprise.

"Hurry go get the others!" Ellie told her daughter and Peaches took off.

He looked down into her eyes with a big grin on his face and said the words her would have regretted saying.

"I love you." Louis laughed a little bit and they both smiled.

"I love you too." She said in a horse quite voice. Louis leaned down, and again, pressed his lips to hers.

"Excuse me?" Ellie said quitely, tapping Louis on the shoulder. Louis leaned back, looked up, and his cheeks turned red as he smiled awkwardly. Ellie checked Lori's heart beat and breathing then turned around, took a couple steps, and sat down.

Lori looked to the side and upon noticing that Ellie wasn't looking, grabbed Louis shoulder and pulled his down, giving him a little peak on the cheek. A goofy grin crawled across his face as they heard footsteps growing closer from down the path to The Oak Tree.

"Ellie!" They heard Manny yell. "What happened?" The herd ran over and Lori closed her eyes and relaxed her whole body, making it look as if she was dead again. Louis looked down at her and his eyes widened. Lori opened the eye opposite of the herd and winked it, smiling, then closed it again and relaxed.

"Lori was picked up by a hawk." Ellie responded. The possums walked closer to Louis and Lori, but stayed a foot or two back looked over that them. Finn walked closer hesitantly and looked at Lori's face.

"Is she… dead?" Finn asked. That was when Louis knew exactly what was going to happen.

"Boo!" Lori yelled as her eyes shot open and she stared at Finn. Every one jumped and Finn ran back to Eddie, hiding behind him.

"I totally got you guys!" Lori laughed and Finn glared at her while everyone else sighed in relief.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Finn yelled stepping out from behind Eddie.

"Well, at least I'm not still dead." Lori said, trying to sit up a little.

"Wait, wait!" Louis said. "Don't hurt yourself."

"Uh, ok." Lori said leaning back again. Louis scooped his free arm under her legs and lifted her up, walking down the path. Lori looked up at him and smiled, then leaned her head against his shoulder.

VVV

"Can't we just leave her by the door so we don't get yelled at by her parents?" Crash asked as Ellie knocked on the ground by the entrance to Lori's family's burrow. He was hit by all the animals that could reach him and glared at by the one that couldn't.

"Alright, alright, I get it!" Crash said.

Lori had fallen asleep in Louis arms on the walk over to the burrow, and Louis was staring at her with the stare he always gave the girls he liked.

Lori's mom appeared in the burrow entrance and looked around at the odd assortment of animals but her eyes eventually fell on her daughter. She climbed all the way out of the burrow and ran over to Louis and Lori. She looked at Lori, then glared at Louis, then looked back at Lori , then glared at Louis again.

"What happened?" She demanded. Louis, suddenly afraid of her, struggled to get the story strait.

"Well, Lori, I-I mean, s-she sort of, well t-there was this hawk and-"

"My daughter was picked up by a hawk?" She yelled in disbelief.

"Well, yeah." Peaches said. "But she's ok now. She was dead for a little bit but-"

"She what?!" Lori mother screamed.

"Peaches!" Everyone yelled.

**Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, GOT YA! SHE'S FINE! MOHAHAHAHAHAHA**

**but yeah, she was actually dead for a good 30 seconds though.**


	18. A Day That is Way Better Than Yesterday

Lori woke up to a horrible headache and back pain. Her Shoulders hurt from that bird nearly ripping her arms off when it tried to carry her off. She opened her eyes and saw two blurry figures leaning over her. She could tell she was underground by the darkness and color of the ceiling.

"Lori?" one of the figures called. Lori couldn't tell who it was so she guessed.

"Louis?"She asked sleepily.

"What? No, Lori, we're your parents." Lori blinked the blurriness from her eyes and saw her mom and dad looking down at her and realized she was in her room. "Are you ok?" Lori's mom asked.

"What? Yeah, my head hurts, everything hurts." Lori said trying to sit up. Her mom gently pushed her back so she was lying down in her nest again.

"Don't get up, you might hurt yourself." Lori's mom said and Lori rolled her eyes. "Just get some rest," Her mother continued. " and I have some good news."

"What is it?" Lori asked, now very interested.

"We're not moving." Lori's mom said.

Lori stared up at her parents blankly. She had totally forgotten they were moving.

"Really?" Lori asked, sitting up a little too fast, making her mildly dizzy. "Wait a second, why?" Lori asked.

"Do you want to move?" Lori's mom asked.

"No! Of course not! I'm just asking…" Lori said quickly.

"Well, even though that whole _bird_ thing happened if your friends can bring you back to life then by all means, be friends with them." Lori's mom answered.

"Uh, yeah, about that…" Lori said tapping her fingers together. "Well, I don't think Louis and I are going to be friends anymore." Lori said, looking down. Lori's parents looked at each other.

"Why, Did something happen?" Lori's mom asked Lori worriedly.

"Well, yeah, but nothing bad. Just promise you won't freak out."

"You kissed him didn't you?" Lori's mom asked flatly.

"How'd you know?" Lori asked. Lori's dad glared at Lori.

"I'm going to kill him…" Lori's dad growled.

"I could tell by the way he was staring at you." Lori's mom said to Lori, sounding a bit annoyed. "He is not good at hiding anything."

"So… can I date him?" Lori asked cautiously.

"Like I said, he's not good at hiding anything." Lori's mom said.

"Yes!" Lori said, pumping her fist. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lori hugged her parents and attempted to stand. She wobbled and her parents caught her by her arms.

"Woah, what happened to sleep? Her mother asked.

"I can't sleep now! You can't tell me all that and expect me to take a nap!" Lori responded standing on her own.

Lori ran up and out of the burrow and tunneled away toward The Oak Tree, and hopefully, toward Louis.

When she arrived she popped her head out of the ground to see Crash, Eddie, Finn, Brian, Sid, Ellie, Peaches, Diego, Shira, Dawn, Dusk, Manny, and, most importantly, Louis.

Everyone looked a little worried and sad, accept Dawn and Dusk, who were stumbling in front of their parents. They all looked up and most smiled, Louis the biggest. He ran over and stood up in front of her when she climbed up out of the tunnel.

"Are you ok?" He asked.

"I'm probably more ok than you are." Lori laughed. "I'm not moving."

"I-I thought I wasn't going to see you again." Louis said sadly. He looked down and his eyes welled up with tears.

"Hey," Lori said, lifting his chin so he was looking into her eyes. "I said I was always going to be here for you, and I meant it." Lori leaned in and kissed him. She leaned back and he smiled softly.

"Ok?"Lori asked

"Ok." Louis responded. They both turned and face the herd to see that all of them had huge goofy grins on their faces.

"Hey Louis…" Peaches said.

"Who's your girlfriend?" They all asked in unison.

Louis and Lori smiled and faced each other.

"She is." Louis said

Lori wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in, kissing him right then and there, and Louis enjoyed every second of it.

**SURPRISE! That was the last chapter. Don't worry there will be a second one,but until then...**

**Lori: HEY! I've never done this before!**

**Louis: Neither have I, so how does this work?**

**lorithemolehog123: You guys just talk and it's recorded on the computer.**

**Louis: Oh...**

**Lori: So what do we say?**

**lorithemolehog123: anything I guess.**

**Lori: Ok... well I guess the only thing I really want o say would be-**

**Josh: BANANAS! *sneeze**

**Louis: WHAT THE HECK?!**

**Lori: How is this even possible?**

**lorithemolehog123: I'll explain later...**

**Josh: I got bored and wanted to-t-to...*sneeze...come and visit.**

**Lori: Uh k...**

**Peaches: Hey guys whatcha doin'?*looks at Josh* and who's that?**

**Lori: it's a long story...**

**lorithemolehog123: Alright I think-**

**Sid: Hi guys!*sees Josh* Oh, hey Josh.**

**Josh: Hi Sid.**

**Lori: You two know each other?**

**Sid and Josh: Long story.**

**lorithemolehog123: You guys-**

**Fluttershy: Hey, hey,hey don't go in my shed!**

**lorithemolhog123: Ok, this is officially getting out of hand, say goodbye everybody!**

**Everyone: Bye!**

**lorithemolehog123: See ya guys, and I really hope you enjoyed this fanfiction. :)**

**PEACE!**

**P.S. I was asking you all those questions because I wanted you to read and figure them out.  
**


End file.
